Microsoft: Beware of bogus Service Pack and hotfix sites

Microsoft warns users about fake service packs and sends a cease-and-desist …

With Vista freshly launched and company executives on record as saying that Vista is "high quality right out of the gate", Microsoft appears less than thrilled with web site owner Ethan Allen's decision to distribute Vista's hotfixes and patches, rolling them into what he calls an SP1 Preview. This so-called preview was a collection of more than 100 hotfixes and patches for Vista. Selection, according to Allen, was determined based on information in Microsoft's Knowledge Base, as well as information from an undisclosed "inside source."

For the record, Ken criticized this site and its practices back in 2005. They've been up to this for years, it seems.

Microsoft has confirmed that Vista will have an SP1, but has yet to announce a projected launch date, and has publicly stated that it expects the release of such updates to have a reduced impact on customers compared to SP1 and SP2 for WindowsXP. According to Microsoft program manager Nick White, Allen's creation of an SP1 preview is potentially detrimental for Windows Vista users.

"Hot fixes not posted on Windows Update are not intended for individual installation unless the user is experiencing the specific symptoms mentioned in the corresponding KB article," White said. "Installing a collection of unnecessary hot fixes may cause more problems than are fixed."

It's not an empty warning: we've seen plenty of instances where an inappropriately installed hotfix caused havoc.

Personally, I've never been a fan of installing someone else's arbitrarily cobbled together preview of a service pack, and I can't see getting behind such efforts now.